Purdue fires Hazell as coach mid-season

Purdue has fired coach Darrell Hazell midway through his fourth season, ending his tenure with the

Published: October 17, 2016 6:00 AM

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Purdue fired coach Darrell Hazell on Sunday midway through his fourth season, ending his tenure with the worst winning percentage of any Boilermakers coach in 95 years.

Hazell was 9-33 overall (.220) since taking over in 2013, and his dismissal had seemed almost inevitable entering this season. A 3-2 start with victories against FCS opponents Eastern Kentucky, Nevada and Illinois gave some hope that he would be given one last full season to show progress. But new Purdue athletic director Mike Bobinski, who was hired away from Georgia Tech in August, decided to make the change in the middle of the season.

Wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator Gerad Parker was named interim coach. Parker is in his fourth season on staff.

"From the first time I met Darrell, I could tell he was a man of high character -- a quality person who you would want leading a group of young men -- but our inconsistent performance and inability to generate positive momentum thus far this season, along with the disappointing results of the past three seasons, made it clear to me that we needed to make a change," Bobinski said in a statement.

The Boilermakers lost 49-35 at home to Iowa on Saturday and trailed 42-14 heading into the fourth quarter. Purdue has averaged 32,078 in attendance at Ross-Ade Stadium, capacity 62,000, for four home games.

The last Purdue coach to have a worse winning percentage than Hazell - a graduate of Muskingum University and a former asistant coach at Ohio State - was William Henry Dietz, who went 1-6 in 1921.